


flush with flight

by ninemoons42



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dogfights in Space, Gen, Introspection, Pilots, Pre-OT3, Pre-Relationship, Space Battles, Spaceflight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5719186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninemoons42/pseuds/ninemoons42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey gets caught in a dogfight, but she's got several people on her side.</p><p>(Featuring the return of Rogue Five!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	flush with flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [johanirae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/johanirae/gifts), [madsmurf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsmurf/gifts).



It comes upon her, suddenly, as she careens through hyperspace at the controls of the _Millennium Falcon_ : it’s metal on her tongue and a shivering sharp flutter in the very back of her mind, in the places where she still needs to strain to hear the Force as it calls to her.

Rey looks down at her hands, and they are steady and she wonders why they are when her heart’s leapt up into her throat, when the hairs on the back of her neck will not come back down from their sudden fright, and she very carefully doesn’t jump out of her seat when Chewbacca rumbles worriedly next to her.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she lies, and the next moment Finn is coming in to stand over her and he shakes his head, once. 

“No you’re not.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she says. She thinks she needed to say those words.

Chewie roars quietly. 

“Yes, the base, or the people still there, or something,” Rey says, and she risks a glance from the controls to look at him, and at Finn: and they look nothing alike but they’re wearing identical worried faces, now. “We’ll know very, very soon.”

“Then I’m going to go and sit in the gun turret,” and she could bless Finn for his willingness to be ready, his drive to help. “Can I get some shields?”

“Shields ready,” Rey says, and Chewie pats Finn’s shoulder with a paw as he clatters out of the cockpit. 

She watches the indicators flash, eyes her controls, throws a glance at the timer -- almost there, almost there -- three two _one_ \-- 

Levers.

The bright streaking stars collapse and the system is, briefly, familiar -- and then Chewie yowls out a warning and Rey doesn’t think, just _feels_ , just _does_ , throwing the _Falcon_ into a hard loop to starboard -- 

“Got incoming,” Finn yells from behind her, and the last bit’s overtaken by the sounds of laserfire, and she gasps and her hands move and the _Falcon_ never stops twisting, evading, rolling.

TIE fighters, of course, and where could they have come from, she thinks as she glances at her co-pilot -- and Chewie merely nods support. He has such faith in her. Him and Finn both, and -- and _Poe_. He’s somewhere in or near their destination, too, last she’d heard she was leading the patrol flights around the current location of the main Resistance base, and if they’re still in this sector they’d stand a chance of being noticed by now -- 

A whoop from behind her and an approving roar from next to her, as Finn blasts one, then two, then four TIE fighters in quick succession. She’s never seen anyone shoot like him -- he seems to be at ease with _any_ kind of projectile weapon, be it a personal firearm or the weapons on a ship -- she’s going to have to take him up on that offer of shooting lessons because a Jedi might rely on a lightsaber but she’s also encouraged to take up other weapons as long as they’re used in the defense and protection of others.

A lull, now, in the exchange of laserfire, and she tries to look in every direction that she can, tries to glance at the proximity sensors, tries to expand her awareness but the adrenaline rush is jittering up and down her nerves, making her grasp on the Force shaky. _No, no,_ she thinks, and she remembers the wide-eyed stories of Jessika, who’s been telling her so much about Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion -- how he was such a steady pilot and how he relied on the Force to be that pilot. 

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Another. Imagines her way to the Force like sliding down a dune, a simple push and then a natural controlled fall, clarity creeping up from her toes and from her fingertips and wrapping soothingly around her heart, around her mind.

“Chewie,” she says, and she’s calm now. She can do this. “Try to make contact with the base, please.”

Quiet muffled roar. 

“Well, we can’t stop trying, maybe they’re just as busy as we are right now,” she says. 

Next: “Finn!”

“Standing by,” he calls back. 

“Best estimates on how far a TIE fighter can go without support?”

“Pretty far depending on how many upgrades it’s gotten to its engines and life support -- you’re thinking the First Order’s here?”

“Or is on its way here.”

“I agree. Got word from the others yet?”

“Chewie and I are trying,” she says.

“They’ll be there,” he says, confidently.

Rey nods, and breathes out a quiet “Thank you”, and then -- 

Flash of familiar black and S-foils and insignia off the port side.

And she’s about to cry out in relief and recognition -- _of course he’s here, where else would he be_ \-- when there’s another buzz of X-wing movement and Chewie suddenly lets out a wild roar of something that she thinks might be _pride_.

“ _Falcon_ , we’re the reinforcements, sorry for the delay,” Poe raps out over the secure comm channels. “Been doing a little firefighting back at the base.”

“Is everyone okay?” Finn yells. 

“The General?” Rey asks, right on his heels.

“Everyone’s on their ships, and she’s waiting for us at the jump point,” a weary quiet voice replies.

The voice of a Jedi Master.

“Master Luke,” Rey says. 

“I borrowed an X-wing from Poe’s squadron, and he’s very kindly allowed me to fly as his wingman for now, since the other pilots are serving as escorts to the regroup coordinates.”

“Don’t listen to him, Rey, I know he’s your master but he also just flew up next to me cool as you please,” Poe says, calmly excited. “Asked for a call sign. Which we should all be sticking to right now.”

And she smiles, though he can’t see her, and says, “We’re with you, Black Leader.”

“Copy that, _Falcon_ , follow me and Rogue Five to the rendezvous point.”

She turns when there’s a sound next to her, and the next thing she knows Chewie is leaning toward the comm and urf-urf-urfing softly, and she remembers that sound -- it’s the way the Wookiee laughs -- and then there’s an answering chuckle, rusty and withered and real. 

“It’s been a long time, Chewie,” her Master says, after a moment.

And she slaps a hand over her smile.

Finn hollers, “Was that Luke Skywalker laughing?”

“That was Rogue Five, yes,” she calls back, and she hears him laugh as well, and she’s still poised on her toes, she’s still waiting for anything else to fall out of the stars and attack them -- the presence of the First Order is still very much on her mind but just the fact that she’s flying with Poe Dameron _and_ Luke Skywalker -- that’s good news. 

And it gives her hope for more.

And she’s wary as she propels the _Falcon_ after them, past a cloud of glittering TIE-fighter debris and past the pole of the planet that the Resistance had just been sheltering on -- she can’t remember its designation, a series of numbers because it was an interstellar planet that was part of no system -- but it lifts, a little, as a cluster of running lights resolves into the heavily armed corvette that is General Leia Organa’s own cruiser.

The General’s voice over the comms is warm and authoritative, and it makes Rey sit up straight. “Good, you’re here, we were waiting for you,” she says, and Rey thinks she sounds a little winded. “Get your coordinates from your X-wing escorts and make sure you’re all clear before you jump.”

“Was the base under attack?” Rey asks.

“Not us, not directly, but seeing as that was the tenth or eleventh skirmish in only the last four days I’d rather think we’ve been rumbled and be wrong, than be complacent and get bombed to bits,” General Organa says. “And I’ll want your presence -- that means all of you -- at the next staff meeting. I don’t want to think that we have a problem, not yet.”

“But there have been too many attacks,” Poe says, and Rey starts, because suddenly he sounds _exhausted_. How many times has he been yanked back into his X-wing since she and Finn left?

“So we’re going to talk about that. Cover our jump, please, then come after us as quickly as you can.”

Rey says “Yes, General,” as the others do, and she doesn’t have to look over to see the frown on Chewie’s face, and there’s a little more tension in her than she likes when she calls, “Finn, is there anything coming up behind us?”

“I’m not seeing anything from here,” he says.

“We seem to be all clear for the moment,” Master Luke says as General Organa’s transport jumps away.

“I’d still feel better if we could put a little more distance between us and the old base,” Poe says after a tense pause. 

Rey wants to look at him, wants to see how he thinks, wants to watch his expressions, and all she can do is reach out for him, vaguely, letting his voice guide her sense for him. Over time, she knows, she’ll learn how to communicate with him through the Force, letting her emotions flow to him and his to her. For now she’s happy that she can sense him at all, that she can hear him in more than one sense of the word.

She flies the _Falcon_ after his X-wing and Luke’s, and can’t stop glancing out and up and around, and Chewie pats her shoulder and she shoots him a strained little smile. 

He looks so understanding, she thinks, or at least she hopes she’s not misinterpreting his expressions. There must be dialects in Shyriiwook, she thinks, because sometimes she doesn’t get the full meanings of some of the things that he says, and he has to rephrase the statement for her. Something else to learn, she thinks, next to blaster training with Finn -- 

Again that shiver in the Force, just moments before she catches a glimpse of Poe’s X-wing peeling off into a hard banking turn, and she yells, “Finn! Cover fire, _now_!”

“Copy that!” 

“Rogue Five, with me,” Poe calls. “ _Falcon_ , watch our backs!”

“Got it.” And then there’s no more time for talking. She is the _Falcon_ , fighting for its life: she dances the _Falcon_ around the enemy fighters. She whirls with her X-wing companions. The thumps and bumps of enemy fire. The displays before her flash their lights, and there are warnings and whoops and -- once -- a word of encouragement, from Master Luke.

“One hell of a pilot, and now there’s two of them,” she thinks she hears Finn say, as he blasts one of the last straggling enemy fighters into dust and a plume of exhaust gases.

She blinks and Chewie is laughing again, more quietly, even as he shakes his head and goes to look under one of the panels in the cockpit. “What happened there?”

Quiet roar. 

“You know the hyperdrive better than I do,” she says, shivering from the mad whirl of combat.

Questioning bark.

“I’m still learning,” she explains, “and besides, I don’t want to know what you and Han on when you were cross-wiring this thing.”

Chewie laughs again and leaves her alone.

“All clear?” Poe asks, after a moment.

“Sensors show nothing,” is Master Luke’s reply.

“I suggest we get out of here before the support craft arrive,” Finn says as he squeezes past Chewie. 

She looks up at him, and holds on to the hand that he places on her shoulder.

“Copy that, let’s get the hell out,” Poe says.

Rey spares the coordinates a glance -- she has no idea where they’re going -- and she confirms that the navigation computer has laid in their course before she pulls back on the familiar levers and the stars blur into ever-extending blue lines -- 

She closes her eyes.

Finn is still holding her hand. She’s learned to cherish the feeling of his warm steady skin, rough against her own calloused hands. The way he holds on to her is immensely comforting, and she carries its impressions around with her, and she’s grateful that the Force allows her to hang on to him that way.

(Master Luke has talked to her about the old codes, the old rules about attachments and the lack thereof. She still thinks that there might have been a little sense in those old rules, but only a little. She’d rather have the attachments and prepare to suffer for them, than have none and live a sterilized separated life.)

“I think I believe the stories now,” she says, after a moment.

She hears Finn hum quietly. “Testor’s?”

“Most of the stories are hers. But there are others. I heard Admiral Ackbar talk about Master Luke once.”

“What’d he say?”

“He took the targeting computer out of his X-wing entirely,” Rey says. “Just threw the parts out onto the tarmac at one of their bases. And there were a lot of questions, the officers weren’t quite convinced that he wasn’t crazy, until he started carving huge holes in the Imperial fleet.”

Finn laughs.

“I wonder if I should take Poe up on his offer,” she says.

“He wants to take you up flying too?”

“He wants me to get fighter pilot certification.”

“It can’t be a bad thing,” Finn says. “You know the _Falcon_ , right?”

“Not completely,” Rey says. “I don’t think anyone can learn this thing completely. Just Chewie, now.”

And she almost yelps when a huge Wookiee paw lands gently on her head. Pats, twice. Moves away.

She watches Chewie pat Finn on the head, too, before he moves toward the main cabin, growling about checking on the engines.

“Because that’s not going to make me nervous,” Finn mutters.

Rey smiles.

She thinks about flying, about leaving contrails behind in some planetary sky, like the contrails she’d watched and longed after back on Jakku.

Contrails, and then -- proximity alerts -- 

“Here we are,” Finn says, and she reaches out to the controls.

Space collapses into stars, and a planet surrounded by three moons, and -- “Water,” she says.

“That’s some ocean,” Finn says. “Where are we going to land?”

“There’s an archipelago near the equator,” Poe interjects, and she can see him flying next to the _Falcon_ , feel the warmth of his presence in the Force. “About ten thousand islands. We’ll be occupying most of those islands. I think you guys get quarters near me, though.”

“I can just fly the _Falcon_ over to you,” Rey says, mostly teasing.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Base admin directs her to an island just a few kilometers away from the main hangars and facilities, and she’s so engrossed in maneuvering into the first clearing she can find that she’s utterly surprised when a black X-wing joins the _Falcon_.

And then Poe is saying “Permission to come aboard,” is exchanging greetings with Chewie, and then he’s walking into the cockpit. His shoulders are slumped but his eyes are wide, and when Finn jumps to his feet to prop him up Rey is compelled to do the same, fitting herself under Poe’s other arm and taking the other half of his weight.

“I’ve always wanted to fly this thing,” Poe says, and she can see that he’s drinking in the _Falcon_. 

So she says, “Trade.”

“Huh?”

“Flying lessons. Not just for me, for Finn too. Teach us how to fly an X-wing. And we’ll fly you around in this.”

Poe laughs wearily. “Oh, I see how it is. You’re going to force me to be a passenger, huh?”

She leans against him, then, her cheek against his chest, and says, “Maybe.”

“It’d be worth it,” Finn offers, after a moment.

“Yeah,” she hears Poe say. “Yeah, I guess.”

“It’s a promise,” Rey says, and she holds them both, in this place.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://ninemoons42.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
